Last November, Russia launched a PL19 Nudol interceptor missile targeting a long-out-of-service Soviet-era Cosmos 1408 satellite orbiting 300 miles above the Earth and blew it to smithereens.

The resulting 1,500 pieces of trackable space junk threatened the seven-member crew of the International Space Station, including two Russian cosmonauts, who had to shelter in their transport spacecraft as the station passed perilously close to the debris field.